Importance of Pedigrees
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Shammy Davis
- Chef de Race: Classic
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- Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2004 8:23 am
Importance of Pedigrees
I have recently taken note of a couple of the TVG commentators suggesting that pedigrees are no longer very important when handicapping. Interesting? During the Triple Crown coverage I recall Randy Moss making the same suggestion. What do we make of this?
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Strategic Maneuver
- Starters Handicap
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- Location: Texas
I'm not sure what to make of it, but when I handicap a race, pedigree is one of the first things I look at. When I look at a horse's pedigree in regards to a particular race, I'm looking at turf/dirt and sprint/distance depending on the race the horses are entered. It's made me more money than lost so I won't be giving it up anytime soon. I didn't see the program so can you give me a recap as to what the "talking heads" ( and I mean it kindly) were referring to?
I don't know what specifically they were referring to, but I'll offer my opinion. Pedigree isn't the first thing I look at, because mommy and daddy ain't doing the runnin'. But when there are 2 or more horses who are difficult to separate on past performance, I find pedigree can be very useful for indicating which will prevail given the distance and track condition/surface.
One of the problems I'm noticing now in pedigrees, and it is showing up in discussions on this board, is that some of the prominent younger sires don't necessarily pass on a specific trait (their offspring run short/long, turf/dirt/syn), perhaps this is the situation the analysts are referring to. I'm not sure that this is really different from the past however as there have always been very versatile sires.
The other thing is that TV analysts are chosen as much for their photogenic appearance and ability to fire off a one-liner as they are for their knowledge of horse racing.
One of the problems I'm noticing now in pedigrees, and it is showing up in discussions on this board, is that some of the prominent younger sires don't necessarily pass on a specific trait (their offspring run short/long, turf/dirt/syn), perhaps this is the situation the analysts are referring to. I'm not sure that this is really different from the past however as there have always been very versatile sires.
The other thing is that TV analysts are chosen as much for their photogenic appearance and ability to fire off a one-liner as they are for their knowledge of horse racing.